20.09.2005

Telehandler driver award

David Berwick, from Burton on Trent has become the first person to win Miller Homes’ Forklift Driver Awards after being continually assessed during his work at Miller Homes’ Thorpe View development in Ashbourne.

Berwick and his colleagues, entered into the contest six months ago, after Miller Homes and UK Forks created the scheme in partnership to encourage pride in the job and reduce machine repair costs.
Please register to see all images

David Berwick with his award, in the background L-R , Louise Greenhoff, a buyer at Miller Homes, Malcolm Ceney, Haydn Davies of UK forks and Stuart Scaife a contracts manager with Miller,

The scheme is claimed to be the first of its kind in the UK and requires each telehandler driver to be assessed by their site manager every week. The manager scores each driver for the presentation of their machine, personal presentation, machine operation and lack of damage. The weekly results are collated every six months and winner presented with a certificate of recognition and £500.

Berwick has been a forklift driver for 17 years and joined Miller just over a year ago. He says of the scheme:
“It’s a great incentive and helps to bring us into line with the rest of the site teams, who also have their own incentive schemes. Since it began, I feel that all of the drivers have found a greater sense of job satisfaction in their work.”

The Forklift Driver Awards were the brainchild of Miller Homes East Midlands’ production director, Malcolm Ceney and Haydn Davies, divisional director at UK Forks.

“We designed the scheme to aid with the maintenance of the trucks and help to instil the same team spirit into drivers as the rest of our site teams - with their own development goals,” explains Malcolm Ceney.

“The scheme will not only help to ensure more stringent health and safety on site, but will also improve development presentation and save significant costs for both Miller Homes and UK Forks in machine repairs.